I'm Still Here
by Thirteen Black Roses
Summary: Songfic to the song of the same name. Link ponders what has happened to him, and he's not happy. I thought of this every time I heard the song, and thought I'd write it down and share. Please R&R!


Disclaimer: Didn't own it last time I checked... *goes to look again* Nope, nope, still nothing. Don't own the song either.  
  
(A/N): This song has been bothering me for awhile, so I decided to get my thoughts down and share with all of you! Don't you feel privileged. Woo. Well, it's some rather angsty introspection from our favorite Hero of Time! Honestly, how would /you/ feel if you suddenly woke up to find yourself seven years older and were expected to save the world? Well, R&R!  
  
I'm Still Here: The Goo Goo Dolls  
  
Link wandered though the tangled undergrowth of the Lost Woods, lost in his thoughts. Navi noticed his preoccupation and kept her distance, giving him space to think. He leaned against a tree and closed his eyes, trying to answer the questions whirling though his head. Why did everyone have to rely on him? Why did the world turn to him for answers, when he couldn't even solve his own problems? Zelda, she had so much faith in him. She was the reason he was doing this, she was the reason he was here now.  
  
I am a question to the world  
  
Not an answer to the earth  
  
Or a moment  
  
That's held in your arms  
  
He wanted to ask her why, why she was making him do this. Why he had to throw away his childhood, his innocence. His life. He shook his head. He had just woken up to find himself seven years older in a world that had grown strange, and frightening. No answer would be good enough right now. She thought he was a hero. The Hero of Time. He wasn't that. He never would be. She didn't even know who he was.  
  
And what do you think you'd ever say?  
  
I won't listen anyway  
  
You don't know me  
  
And I'll never be what you want  
  
me to be  
  
All he was, was a child. A frightened boy trapped in the body of a man. He was supposed to save Hyrule, and then what? What would happen to him then? He would still be in an unfamiliar body in a changed Hyrule, still missing seven years of his life. He was just being used, he thought bitterly. When it was over, he would be cast aside like a used rag.  
  
And what  
  
Do you think you'd understand?  
  
I'm a boy, no, I'm a man  
  
You can't take me  
  
And throw me away  
  
How could he be a hero? He didn't know what he was supposed to do. Everything he knew about fighting he had learned on his own, learning to survive as he fought monsters that wanted to kill him. No one really knew him. All they knew was what they believed about the 'Hero of Time.' They never would know the real Link, because that boy was rapidly disappearing.  
  
And how can you learn what's never shown?  
  
Yeah, you stand here on your own  
  
They don't know me  
  
Cause I'm not here  
  
All he wanted was a moment to be /him/ again. Not the Hero of Time out to save Hyrule, but Link. The little Kokiri child who played with his friends in the forest, and messed around on an Ocarina with Saria. Even if he hadn't had a fairy, he had belonged. Now, he didn't fit anywhere. How could everyone want him to change so much? They didn't have to. They didn't ask him if he wanted to lose seven years of his life. They didn't know him. ...He didn't even know himself anymore...  
  
And I want a moment to be real  
  
Want to touch things I don't feel  
  
Want to hold on and feel I belong  
  
And how can the world want me to change?  
  
They're the ones they stay the same  
  
They don't know me  
  
'Cause I'm not here  
  
Navi looked down and saw a tear escape Link's closed eyes. She flew down and settled on his shoulder, pressing against his cheek. He opened one eye to look at her, and smiled. She knew the real person behind the Hero, she never judged him or tried to change him. All she wanted from him was friendship.  
  
And you see the things they never see  
  
All you wanted-I could be  
  
Now you know me  
  
And I'm not afraid  
  
Link opened his eyes fully and stared up at the leafy canopy, his mind running through the people he knew, those he had met since leaving the forest. Zelda and Impa, Malon and Talon, Ingo, Sheik... None of them really knew him. He wanted them to, though. He wanted to have real friends, friends who cared about /him/, not the Hero of Time. Maybe, if he had people to hold on to, people that knew him, he wouldn't fear fighting Ganondorf so much. He wouldn't fear losing himself in the battle.  
  
And I want to tell you who I am  
  
Can you help me be a man?  
  
They can't break me  
  
As long as I know who I am  
  
All he wanted was just a moment to be the way he used to be. To feel the way he had when he lived in the Kokiri forest. To him it had only been a few weeks, though it seemed like forever. To the rest of the world...seven years. He still had trouble getting his mind around that. He constantly felt out of place, a square peg in a round hole. They thought he was something special. Really, he was nothing. No one.  
  
And I want a moment to be real  
  
Want to touch things I don't feel  
  
Want to hold on and feel I belong  
  
And how can the world want me to change  
  
They're the ones they stay the same  
  
They can't see me  
  
But I'm still here  
  
Nothing anyone said mattered, he would never be what they thought he was. He may slay monsters, but he was no Hero. All he could do was try to hold on to his hope that one day he would belong again. He wouldn't listen to them, nothing they said about him was true.  
  
They can't tell me who to be  
  
'Cause I'm not what they see  
  
Yeah, the world is still sleepin' while I keep on dreaming for me  
  
And their words are just whispers and lies that I'll never believe  
  
Link pushed away from the tree and moved forward again, away from the Forest Temple. His hand brushed against the two metal discs in his pocket. Rauru...Saria...they were probably disappointed in him, that he was still the same child who had left the forest three weeks and seven years ago. He looked ahead with a resolute expression. Their opinions didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that /he/ was still here, and he was going to stay the way he was. Nothing could change that. *I'm still here...*  
  
And I want a moment to be real  
  
Want to touch things I don't feel  
  
Want to hold on and feel I belong  
  
And how can they say I'll never change?  
  
They're the ones they stay the same  
  
I'm the one now  
  
'Cause I'm still here  
  
I'm the one  
  
'Cause I'm still here  
  
I'm still here  
  
I'm still here  
  
I'm still here  
  
(A/N): Soooo....you like? If you did, I have another Zelda fic called 'Through the Eyes of the Princess' (yeah, that title sucks). Like it says, it shows the events of Link's adult life through the eyes of Princess Zelda. Some for Sheik lovers there too. ~_^ Link's part isn't very big though, its mostly what Zelda is doing and thinking. Well, let me know what you think of this! Review please! 


End file.
